Monthly Archives: January 2014

Coranil trudged up a snowy hill with an arctic blast hitting him in the face, but he endured. It would only be a few more minutes; Nightcaller Temple was already in sight. It was late at night, but the moons reflecting off the snow helped light his way.

The building he was approaching had once housed a temple of Vaermina, but for the past twenty or twenty-five years, it was used as a temple of Mara. According to Coranil’s order, however, the priests of Mara were driven out or killed and the place was now a Thalmor installation. He could see why they had picked it. It was close to the shore, providing easy access for boats, but the elevation of the hill was high enough that a lookout would have an unimpeded view for miles. It was close to Dawnstar, which might have been a drawback, if not for events that had occurred some years back involving an artifact created by Vaermina, in which the whole town was plagued by horrible nightmares until the artifact was destroyed. Coranil imagined that none of the townspeople dared go near the temple these days. By the lack of footprints in the week-old snow, Coranil surmised that he was correct in his assumption. Just as with other Thalmor locations, the outside looked deserted. There were a few empty barrels and a cart with a broken wheel in the yard, but there was no evidence to indicate that anyone inhabited the temple at all.

A few of my online friends and I did this exercise last year, in which we take one of the OCs from our fanfiction and answer one in-depth question about them for each day in February. We’re doing it again, and as a result of a poll I took, I’m actually going to do two characters this year: Coranil, who has figured heavily in Dragonborn: The Legacy so far, and Kaawenyth (aka Kaaley — which is pronounced like “Kayley” — yes, it’s a blatant rip-off from Firefly), whom I’m introducing in the next few chapters. WARNING: If you haven’t read up through Chapter 14 of Dragonborn: The Legacy, there will be spoilers!

I want to do a special shout out to Wilvarin-Chan on deviantART, who saved Coranil’s life and created Kaaley as a potential love interest for him.

After stopping in Solitude the next night, Ben, Coranil, Rowan, and Dolff headed back to Windhelm. The trip seemed to take forever, mostly because it was so quiet. Ben tried to engage the others in conversation, but aside from Coranil answering his many questions about the Thalmor and his past, they barely spoke. Relations between Rowan and Dolff were colder than the winds on the Throat of the World, and Ben had no idea what had happened. Well, he had some idea. He thought maybe they had fought because Dolff was jealous of Rowan’s dotage on Coranil, but they weren’t talking about it, so he could only speculate.

Dolff and Ben released Coranil from the wall shackles, and Rowan caught him as he collapsed. He was so thin and frail, she thought she could carry him on her own, but Dolff picked him up and toted him to the nearest bedchamber. Rowan figured he must be in incredible pain, but he didn’t wince or groan once.

Dolff went to get some water, and Ben sat down next to Coranil and called healing magic to his hands while Rowan stood back and chewed on a fingernail.

Rowan and Ben arrived in Riften a couple of days later and gave Selene the vial of snow. They left the next morning to go back to Whiterun, and Selene and Brynjolf headed for Windhelm. She called once again on Odahviing, who, as always, was happy to give them a ride; and they arrived in Skyrim’s capital city in a few hours.

Ulfric had stepped up security. Extra guards patrolled the streets, and some of them who didn’t recognize Selene and Brynjolf glared at them suspiciously. Selene could sense her husband’s unease as they approached the Palace of the Kings, but it wasn’t the extra guard that made him uncomfortable. Although he respected Ulfric as High King, his animosity toward the man had never waned. He hated him with a passion, and Ulfric was none too fond of him, either. Still, they were men of integrity in their own way, and they tolerated each other enough to work together when necessary.

The sun was high in the sky, and the Companions were enjoying their first warm day of the year. Winters in Skyrim were long, and the warriors were used to training in sub-zero temperatures, but the balmy weather made the courtyard activities much more pleasant.

Rowan was sparring with Ben, whose swordsmanship had improved quickly when he had started practicing again. At this point they were pretty evenly matched, at least if they were fighting with two swords. Rowan still had trouble when wielding one blade.